worsey



4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

[No Model.)

H. B. WORSEY. LATCH.

Patented Feb, 25, 1896.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3v (No Model.) I

H. B. WORSEYZ LATCH. No. 555,354: Patented Feb. 25,1896' f z A i w I 09' WM ant/7 (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. B. WORSEY.

LATGH.

W K m M .r Mm mv M d W 0 M w Witnesses;-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY BAXTER WORSEY, OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,354, dated February25, 1896.

' Application filed November 4,1895. Serial No. 567,922. (No model.)

T0 (0 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BAXTER Won- SEY, a subject of the Queen ofGreat Britain, residing at Birmingham, England, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Door-Latches and Latches for Door-Locksand I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to effect the withdrawal of thelatch-bolts of door locks and latches either by the turning of one orother of the knobs in the ordinary way or by the depression of either bythe knobs; and my said invention consists of the construction andarrangements or combinations of the parts hereinafter described of thelatch mechanism for effectin that object.

I will describe my invention in connection with a combined door lock andlatch.

I construct the follower of the latch and the parts immediatelyconnected therewith in the following manner: I form the follower from acircular or nearly circular disk of metal having at its middle an oblonghole for the knob-spindle to pass through. The said follower has at topa cross-head which, when in position in the lock, is situated under theturned-out or flanged upper edge of a rectangular metal plate situatedin a vertical race or guide in the lock-case. The said rectangular metalplate I will hereinafter refer to as the lifting-plate of the followermechanism. Between the lifting-plate and the follower is a sheet-metalwasher, in a circular hole in which the bush of the follower takes androtates when the knob is turned in the ordinary way.

The stem of the latchbolt is pivoted to the vertical arm of a crankedlever, the free end of the horizontal arm of which is pressed down by aspring or weight and bears through an intermediate lever on thelifting-plate hereinbefore referred to.

Each of the knobs carries a short spindle the inner ends of which areflattened and overlap one another. The overlapping parts are of a sizeand shape suitable to fit in the hole in the follower; or the ends ofeach of the short spindles may be square, in which case the two innerends occupying the hole in the follower abut against each other insteadof overlapping. The inner end of the neck of each of the knobs isconcave and bears against a bulbous or nearly hemispherical head of acollar attached to the knob-spindle by a horizontal pin or pivot, thesaid pin or pivot also serving to secure the knob and spindle to thedoor rose or plate, the cylindrical stem or neck of the said collarpassing through the said rose or plate. The hole in the said collarthrough which the knob-spindle passes is wedge-shaped, the said holebeing larger at its outer end than at its inner end, at or near whichthe horizontal pin or pivot passes through the said collar and spindle.By this means the knob and short spindle are capable, in addition to arotary or turning motion, of an angular motion in a vertical plane.

The action of the parts is as follows: \Vhen one or other of the knobsis depressed, the free end of its spindle is raised and the follower andlifting-plate are lifted in the vertical guide of the lock-case, and thesaid liftingplate, acting through the intermediate and cranked levers,effects the withdrawal of the latch-bolt. On the release of the knob thespring or weight effects the return of the parts to their normalpositions. Instead of depressing the knob it may be turned in theordinary way, when one or other of the arms of the cross-head of thefollower acting under the lifting-plate operates the levers and eifectsthe withdrawal of the latch-bolt.

Instead of permitting the vertical angular motion of the knobs in theway hereinbefore described the part of each of the spindles adjoiningthe knob may be formed into a ball and a spherical socket may be formedin the rose or plate of the door-handle for the ball of the spindle towork in, or other equivalent arrangements of parts may be employed.

Figure 1 0f the accompanying drawings represents in front elevation aportion of a door provided with a spring pressed latchbolt containingmechanism constructed according to my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 representcross-sections of the same, taken on the line a; as, Fig. 1. Fig. 4represents the said door in section and a portion of the lock-caseremoved, the latch being represented in its withdrawn position, havingbeen operated by the turning of the knob. Fig. 5 represents a similarview to that represented in Fig. 4:, the latch-bolt having beenwithdrawn by downward pressure on one or other of the knobs. Figs. 6, 7,and 8 represent parts of the follower mechanism detached, as hereinafterdescribed. Fig. 9 represents in side elevation, and Fig. 10 in backelevation, one of the knobs and its spindle together with the knobfixingplate detached from the door. Fig. 11 represents in section, and Fig. 12in elevation, a modification to be used in place of the cupped orhemispherical parts of the knob and rose represented in Figs. 2, 3, and9; and Figs 13, l t, 15, and 16 represent modifications of the shortspindles of the knobs.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the severalfigures of the drawings.

a a a is the follower of the latch mechanism, (shown separately in frontand end elevation in Fig. 6,) in which follower is the oblong hole I)for the square knob-spindle c c to pass through. The said followerconsists essentially of a nearly circular disk a,havin g on either sidecircular bushes a a and at top a cross-head (L2. On each side of thefollower a is placed the nearly rectangular pierced sheet-metal washer(I, (one of which is shown detached in Fig. 7,) the circular holes inwhich washers take on and constitute the bearings for the circularbushes a a of the follower. The cross-head a of the follower a and theupper edges of its washers d d when in position take under the flangededge e of the rectangular pierced plate e, hereinafter called thelifting-plate. The said lifting-plate e is shown separately in frontelevation and edge view in Fig. 8. The said lifting-plate is situatedbetween the two vertical guiding-strips f f on the lock-case, and in thenormal position of the parts the said lifting-plate e and washers d (1rest upon and are supported by the horizontal strip or stop f also onthe lock-case. The edges of the washers (Z (Z fit within and workagainst the vertical guidingstrips f f in the manner hereinafterdescribed.

The stem g of the latch-bolt g is pivoted to the vertical arm h of thecranked lever h 702, the horizontal arm It being pressed by the spring2' on the upper side of the small intermediate lever, 71;, turning onthe center the lower acting part of which lever 70 bears on thehorizontal flange e of the lifting-plate e.

The knob-spindle c c is divided at its middle-that is to say, each knobZ has a short horizontal spindle c, the inner ends of the two shortspindles nearly abutting in the oblong hole I) of the follower a. Theinner face of each of the necks of the knobs Z is of ahollow sphericalfigure and bears against the bulbous or spherical outer part, m, of therose on m attached to the knob-fixing plate 72, the inner flange m ofthe said rose bearing against the inner face of the said knob-fixingplate it. Each of the short spindles c is adjusted in the tube Z of itsknob and at the same time pivoted to the rose, so as to be capable of avertical angular motion by a horizontal pin 19, the said pin passingthrough one or other of the row of holes in each short spindle. Theinner flange, m of the rose m m has a quadrant-shaped cut-away part m(see Fig. 10,) in which the stop-pin n on the inner side of theknob-carrying plate a is situated for limiting the turning motion of theknob in one or other direction.

The action of the parts is as follows: When the latch-bolt g iswithdrawn by the turning of one or other of the knobs Z, the follower ais turned by the knob-spindle c; and one or other of the arms of thecross-head a of the follower acting under the flange e of thelifting-plate e effects the raising of the said lifting-plate e andthrough the levers 7c and h 72,2 the withdrawal of the latch-bolt, asseen in Fig. 4:. On the release of the knob Zthe parts resume theirnormal positions by the action of the spring '2'. It will be understoodthat on the motion of one of the knobs and its spindle a corrrespondingmotion is given to the opposite knob and its spindle.

YVhen the latch-bolt is withdrawn by the depression or vertical angularmotion of one or other of the knobs Z, the inner end of the spindle 0attached to the depressed knob, acting on the follower a, lifts the saidfollower together with its washers cl (1 and lifting-plate e, asrepresented in Figs. 3 and 5, the lifting motion being transmittedthrough the levers 7t and h 71. to the latch-bolt, as described,when theknob is turned. On the release of the knobl the parts resume theirnormal positions by the action of the spring 2'. On the last-describedmethod of operating the latchbolt the inner end of the knob works on thebulbous part on of the rose 971 the short spindle of the knob turning onthe horizontal pin 1), as seen in Fig. 3.

It is desirable to impart the necessary stroke to the latch g by acomparatively slight vertical movement of the lifting-plate 6. Thislifting-plate, guided by the vertical guidestrips f, moves in aperpendicular plane and acts on the short lever 70, so that a slightmotion of the lifting-plate imparts the necessary motion to the lever 7L72, to completely retract the latch g. The washers (Z afford properbearin gs, near the center of the lock-case, for the circular bushes orhubs a of the oscillatory disk (1, while rendering it possible for thisdisk to rise and fall, since the washers are susceptible of verticalmovements between the guide-strips f. The lever 70 is provided, asbefore stated, in order that the flanged edge e of the lifting-plate ecan, by a slight upward movement, properly actuate the lever h 7L2 toretract the latch.

I wish it to be understood that the return of the parts of the latchmechanism to their normal'positions may be effected by the action of aweighted lever instead of by a springpressed lever, as represented.

Instead of pivoting the short or divided spindles to the roses of thedoor-knobs in the way already described the said spindles may haveformed on them spherical enlargements c for engaging hollow sphericalsockets m in the door-fixing plate or, as represented in Figs. 11 and12, the inner part of the spherical socket having a cut-away part m topermit the spindle taking the required angular motion in a verticalplane when the latch is withdrawn by the depression of the knob.

I will now describe the modified spindles.

In place of making the inner ends of the short spindles nearly abutagainst each other, as in Figs. 2 and 3, they may be arranged side byside and overlap, as represented in Fig. 13, or they may be arranged tooverlap one on the other, as represented in Fig. 1%; or the spindle c ofone knob may be of a length sufficient to pass through the follower andengage in a slot 0 in the short spindle c of the other knob, asrepresented in side elevation in Fig. 15 and plan in Fig. 16.

The arrangements hereinbefore described and represented enable a personwhose hands are not at liberty to operate the knob by a turning orrotary motion-as, for example, a servant carrying a tray into or out ofa roomto effect the withdrawal of the latch-bolt and the unfastening ofthe door by simply apply ing a downward pressure to the knob.

IIavin g now particularly described and ascertained the nature of myinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatI claim as my inventionl. The combination with a door-latch, door knobsor handles, and a knob-spindle, of parallel guides arranged in thelock-case, an OS- cillatory disk or follower having a cross-head andbushes or hubs and into which the knobspindle extends,vertically-movable washers guided by the guide-strips and formingbearings for the bushes or hubs of the disk, and a vertically-movablelifting-plate guided by the guide-strips and raised by the cross-head ofthe disk when the latter is actuated by the knob-spindle, and devicesoperated on by the lifting-plate for retracting the latch, substantiallyas described.

2. The combination with a latch, knobs or handles, and a knob-spindle,of parallel guidestrips arranged in the lock-case, an oscillatory diskor follower having a cross-head and lateral bushes or hubs,vertically-movable washers guided by the guide-strips and constitutingbearings for the bushes or hubs of the disk or follower, a lifting-plateguided by the guide-strips and raised either by the oscillatory motionof the disk or follower, or by the bodily vertical motion thereof, apivoted lever connected with the latch, and a lever acted upon by thelifting-plate for operating said pivoted lever to retract the latch whenthe lifting-plate is raised, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a latch-case, and a latch, of rotatable roseseach constructed with a spherical portion, a divided knob-, spindle, thesections of which are pivoted in the rotatable roses and are providedwith spherical portions fitting the spherical portions of the roses,said sections of the knobspindle being susceptible of axial rotationwith the roses and also of angular motion within the roses, and devicesactuated either by the rotation or the angular motion of the sections ofthe knob-spindle for retracting the latch, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a latch-case, a

latch, a pivoted latch-operating lever, and a divided knob-spindlehaving the sections provided with knobs or handles, of rotatable rosesjournaled in the sides of the latch-case, constructed with convexsurfaces and within which the said sections of the knob-spindle arepivoted, so that they can rotate with the roses and also move angularlytherein, an oscillatory and vertically-movable disk or follower having across-head and into which the sections of the knob-spindle extend,vertically-movable washers constituting bearings for the disk orfollower, a vertically-movable lifting-plate which is raised either bythe turning motion of the disk or the follower, or by the bodilyvertical movement thereof, and a device acted upon by the lifting-platefor operating the latch-actuating lever, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a latch-case, a latch, a pivoted latch-operatinglever, and a divided knob-spindle having the sections provided withknobs or handles, of rotatable roses journaled in the sides of thelatch-case, constructed with convex outer surfaces and within which thesaid sections of the knobspindle are pivoted, so that they can rotatewith the roses and also move an gularly therein when the knobs orhandles are rotated or depressed, and devices actuated by the sectionsof the knob-spindle for retracting the latch, substantially asdescribed.

HENRY BAXTER WORSEY. [11.5.] lVitnesses:

GEORGE SHAW, RICHARD SKERRETT.

